Thread: Swatty clean up

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

I must have been hearing it wrong before, but I thought you weren't supposed to lap barbers Hones, please don't take it that I,m questioning but that is what I've always heard.

Inquiring minds want to know. Tc

In my opinion lapping a barber hone should be a last resort for a trashed, or very dished, hone. Leaving the original surface intact is more important than making it pristinely flat.

Originally Posted by tintin

i have one that includes instructions for use as well as suggesting to refresh it with emery paper.

Those instructions are common but I am quite certain that those instructions are for refreshing, not lapping, the hone. Refreshing a barber hone is done when the surface has been burnished to a point where it is no longer cutting and then fine emery paper is used JUST ENOUGH to restore its cutting capacity. If it used more than that then significantly more and larger pieces of grit will be exposed and the hone will cut in a much more coarse manner than it should.